Good for Kevin Lembo:
State Comptroller Kevin Lembo added his name to a growing list of advocates and officials asking Insurance Commissioner Katharine Wade to recuse herself from reviewing the Anthem-Cigna merger.
“With each passing day I grow more concerned about both the process by which the review is being conducted and the eventual impact of the proposed merger on the State of Connecticut and its residents,” Lembo wrote in a letter to Wade.
The concerns about Wade are related to her former employer, Cigna.
Wade last worked at Cigna in 2013 as vice president Public Policy, Government Affairs and U.S. Compliance. She was also the head of the Connecticut Association of Health Plans, the lobbying group for Connecticut’s insurance plans, from 2005 to 2013. Wade’s husband still works for Cigna.
Lembo said he understands the Office of State Ethics has been asked to consider whether Wade’s involvement conflicts with the state Code of Ethics, “however a favorable ruling from the OSE will not remove public skepticism of your role in the review of the merger.”
It’s really never a good idea to let insured industries regulate themselves, either officially, as with the Federal Reserve, or unofficially, as in this case. Just another example of the Malloy administration handing the state over to rent-seeking corporations.
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